Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who is backing Vice President Kamala Harris in next week’s election, has apologized for comments he made about her Republican opponent.

The Dallas Mavericks owner said this during an appearance on ABC’s on Thursday The view that former President Donald Trump did not surround himself with “strong, intelligent women.” Cuban made the comment in response to co-host and former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin asking whether Trump had not asked Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who ran for the Republican presidential nomination earlier in the race, to help him to help strengthen the support of women voters. .

“Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Never. It’s that simple. They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them,” Cuban said. “Nikki Haley will call him out on his nonsense about reproductive rights and how he sees, treats and talks to women. I mean, he just can’t have her with him. It wouldn’t work.’

In response to his comments, Cuban wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “When I said this during the interview, I didn’t convey it exactly as I thought. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who felt slighted or upset by my response. Like I said, it wasn’t about Trump voters, supporters or employees.”

Cuban commentary on The view This has angered Trump, those who worked with him and his supporters. The former president released a statement on Truth Social, labeling Cuban a “fool” and a “big loser.”

“All strong women, and women in general, should be angry at this weak man’s statement,” Trump wrote.

Republicans and Trump allies flocked to defend the former president. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters, released a video message on “

“He’s actually intimidated by strong, intelligent women like me,” Greene added after doing pullups.

Kayleigh McEnany, who served as press secretary in the Trump White House, said she found Cuban’s statement “very insulting.”

“I worked for Donald Trump,” McEnany said on Fox News. “I consider myself a strong woman. I consider the people around me as strong women.”

In March, Haley dropped out of the presidential race and later endorsed Trump, but she has not campaigned with him and has criticized his campaign. Speaking to Fox News host Bret Baier on Tuesday, she said Trump and his team had a “bromance” that “makes women uncomfortable.”

“You have affiliate PACs advertising about calling Kamala the c-word,” Haley said, referring to a recent ad from Elon Musk’s political action committee. “You had speakers at Madison Square Garden referring to her and her ‘pimps.’ That’s not the way to win women.”